Association of Pregnancy Intention with Parenting Difficulty in Fukushima, Japan

BACKGROUND: Our prior study revealed that nearly half of the Japanese women between the ages of 35 and 49 years experience an unintended pregnancy, many of which are carried to term. The present study is intended to investigate the association of the intention to become pregnant with parenting difficulty after birth. METHODS: We distributed self-administered questionnaires to mothers of 317 randomly selected children aged 3 to 18 months who resided in Sukagawa City, Fukushima. The extent to which the unintended pregnancy is associated with the risk of negative attitude in parenting was examined by using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The response rate was 69% and the proportion of births, the outcome of an unintended pregnancy, 22%. When the pregnancy was unintended, the mother may not deny her feelings toward child abuse (odds ratio [OR] = 5.2). She was unlikely to have discussion about child rearing with her husband (OR=3.1) or family (OR=3.3); or the husband rarely participate in child rearing (OR=1.9). CONCLUSION: To improve the child rearing environment, these findings provide preliminary evidence to underscore the importance of pregnancy planning and providing services to augment the parenting skills of couples who have an unintended pregnancy. A follow-up of pregnant women is currently underway to examine prospectively the effects on child rearing of one’s intention to become pregnant.